This invention relates to surgical screws which are particularly well adapted for securing Patellar Tendon Grafts during reconstruction of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament.
Damaged Anterior Cruciate Ligaments can be repaired by grafting a Patellar Tendon physiologically bound to blocks of bone at each end, between the femur and tibia within the knee joint. The graft is inserted into a prepared hole and initially bound by a screw inserted within the hole beside the graft bone. After time the graft fuses with the bone material. While this technique works generally well problems can occur in that the head of the screw rests against the graft material and, as the knee is bent and the graft swings around, the head of the screw acts as a fulcrum for the graft and can damage the graft fibres. Other problems can occur in that conventional screw threads will cut into, and therefore damage, the graft. Also conventional screws can, in some procedures, be lost into the knee joint cavity causing a longer than necessary operation and further trauma.